Kansas City News Blog

Get ready to fork over more cash on your monthly electric bill.

The Missouri Public Service Commission approved a rate hike for KCP&L on Wednesday that will cost residential customers an average of $12.82 a month starting in September.

The total increase will be about $95 million for KCP&L.

And another rate increase may be on the way. The concurring opinion written by the commission's chairman, Robert M. Clayton III, says:

Rate payers should be aware that these increases are not the last in the foreseeable future considering that in 2010, it is planned that nearly the entire investment in Iatan 2 will be placed into rate base causing another potential rate increase. Large investments in plant which are necessary for the provision of service result in significant rate increases

Clayton acknowledged that the just-approved increase is "significant"  and the impact on customers "is not to be taken lightly," but he also noted that there was "little choice but to approve the agreements." Clayton wrote in his opinion:

These rate increases are not simply raising the return or profit margin allowed to the company but instead represent significant investments in plant that will benefit the public and the environment through reductions in emissions. Environmental mandates have required the investment in infrastructure that will improve the air quality in the vicinity of these facilities.

Those improvements include mandatory environmental upgrades at existing power plants, wind generation, construction of the Iatan 2 coal-fired power plant and other energy conscious programs.

KCP&L CEO Mike Chesser released this statement saying the rate increase will "pay for environmental investments we have already made to several of our coal-fired power plants. ... We recognize that this is a challenging time to ask customers to pay more for electricity, and we didn't make this decision lightly."

Katie McDonald, a spokeswoman with KCP&L, told The Pitch, that KCP&L made the investments to meet the federal environmental mandates early to save some money.

McDonald also acknowledged the timing of asking customers who are already struggling to pay their bills to pay more in a bad economy. She said part of the rate increase is going to create a program with the PSC to give credits of up to $50 a month to customers who need help the most (based on income requirements).

"That's something that will be rolled out later this year when the new rates are in effect," McDonald said.

McDonald added that KCP&L is also increasing efforts to get custmoers' homes weatherized as well as being more flexible with the power company's payment plans.

"We want to work with our customers to avoid having them shut off for nonpayment," McDonald said.